Skip to content Press Out: How to Imitate Christ in Everyday Life || Pastor Adam Mesa Jan 19 · 48 min ...more
Press Out: How to Imitate Christ in Everyday Life || Pastor Adam Mesa
January 19, 2025 · 48 min
Series Patria Sermons January 19, 2025 · 48 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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The Call to Imitate Christ 0:00 Awesome. Well praise God. It's so good to see all of you here this Sunday morning. And as Ashley said, we're really excited this Friday 7 o'clock hosted at our Pomona0:12 campus. We have our young adult night, and it's gonna be absolutely incredible. Please, if you have anyone that you know that's a young adult, maybe you're even here and you have grandchildren that are young adults.0:22 These are the type of moments that you wanna encourage them to go, okay? So do whatever you gotta do if you know someone that's young who hasn't developed a relationship with Jesus yet. Promise them a gas card to go.0:34 Promise them some Roblox money if they're still into that. Hopefully no 1, you know, is, but but anyway, whatever you do, you know, tell them I'll Venmo you lunch, but go to this cause I know God's0:46 gonna touch them. And our resident pastor, Pastor Sammy's gonna be preaching on Friday. 1 of the things that I admire about Pastor Sammy, because he may be new to our team, but he's not new to me as a friend. I've seen0:57 him in environments where he has a gift to move with the Spirit and move prophetically. And so, what I do know without a shout of doubt that as young adults come on Friday, if they are looking for the Lord to speak a1:09 word to them, we're truly believing God that that's gonna happen on Friday. Because Pastor Sammy moves in that in that vein, and I'm really looking forward to being able to be there and just witness what the Lord is1:21 gonna do on Friday night. And as always on Saturdays, you may have a friend that said, you know I went to Patriot, but it was just so big. It just felt, you know, just kind of felt like I'd got lost. Well, a couple1:33 things. If you serve and you join a neighborhood group, it won't feel very big at all. That's 1 thing. So always encourage that if someone maybe says it's a little too big or a little too packed. But also, that's1:44 where our Saturday night service comes into play. And so, you know, it's not a large service. It's not massively attended, and that's for a purpose. That's because then it's much more intimate, and so if you know someone1:56 that says oh it's just there's a lot of people, well Saturday service isn't that way. And we're gonna have a lot of time where we're gonna fellowship in the courtyard as it's finished and other things like that, and so2:06 we just really can't wait for our Saturday night service. And so encourage people to come. And if you have a Bible today, let's dig into the word of God. We've been in a series at the top of this year that goes2:18 along with our fast. By a show of hands, let's just see who's been doing our 21 day fast with us. I know we got a lot of people. That's great. If if if you haven't, that's okay. But we've all been2:30 doing a 21 day fast. A lot of us, Some of it's food related, habit related, but the most important part has been to spend extra time with God every single day. That at the top2:42 of the year, we can grow and strengthen our relationship with the Lord. If you have your Bible, turn to Philippians chapter 3. We've been here all month really digging about 3 verses at a time into the book of2:52 Philippians. If you were with us this first week, Pastor Aaron shared with us and opened the series about explaining to us what's happening in the book of Philippians. That it's written by the Apostle Paul. That he's3:04 writing it as a prisoner for Jesus as he's in prison for preaching the Gospel, and he pins this letter. We got, we got babies on both sides. It's like 3 d audio right now. No, it's okay.3:18 What happens is, is as Pastor Aaron shared, we talked about suffering on the first week as he opened up the series. And then within the second week, we then talked about Paul says, that as you experience suffering as3:29 believers, what will often happen is God will build a maturity in your life. And so, we talked about last week as you become a Christian, as you follow Jesus, there should be an expectation in your life that3:41 your maturity level grows. In the gospels, or in the new testament the apostle Paul puts it this way. He says, when I was a child, I thought like a child, and I acted like a child. But as you3:53 become an adult, you ought to act like an adult. And so in other ways, if I'm a believer on year 1 and you're new to faith, it's okay that a lot of things may be difficult at first. But hopefully, as4:05 you get into year 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, as a believer, your maturity level increases. That you don't have the same struggles, you don't have the same mishaps that you had on year 1. So4:17 the Apostle Paul talks about there should be an expectation in your faith that says, I can overcome things by the power of the Spirit. I can grow in character. I can grow in attitude. And then this week, the4:29 Apostle Paul says, if you would experience suffering, if you would grow in your maturity and faith, then ultimately what will happen is your imitation game will get really good when it comes to following4:41 Jesus. That you'll be really good at imitating Jesus. So, that's where we find ourselves today in Philippians chapter 3 verse 17. If you have your finger there, I'll have it up on the screen if you want to follow4:52 along. Would you join me for standing for the honor of reading God's word while we give the Lord our full attention today as God's word is open. Here's what the Apostle Paul says. Brothers,5:05 join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you,5:16 even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame with5:28 minds set on earthly things. You may be seated. Let's talk about that a little bit today. As Paul continues what we've been talking about the past couple weeks,5:41 he makes an invitation. An invitation that I don't tend to be very comfortable with, because here's what Paul does. He tells everyone, join me in imitating. Join5:53 me in imitating me. It's not because he's saying that because he's prideful. He could have said, hey let's all collectively imitate Jesus. But why does he say let's imitate me? Because6:04 Paul recognizes that he's an example to other believers. He recognizes that to follow Jesus means that you are setting an example of what it means to serve6:16 Jesus. And so if he just said, let's all imitate Jesus, that's a scapegoat. Because how often have you said this to someone when they saw your humanity? Well, I'm not Jesus.6:28 And so it's a way that you've tried to escape responsibility. If I was Jesus, it'd be easier. If I were 1 of his disciples, it'd be easier. But what Paul begins to do is he says, hey guys, imitate6:39 me. And then people could be in the church and they could be like, whew. We only have to imitate Paul, that's it. But then what he continues to say is he says this, he says when you're in church,6:52 look around and have your eyes on other people who are intimidating Jesus. Wait, hold on Paul. I was I was totally game with you telling people7:03 that hey, look at me, imitate me. Ephesians chapter 4 of the Apostle Paul says follow my example as I follow the example of Jesus. And so Paul, I get that. But don't be telling people to come to church and tell7:15 them to look at their left and right and see whether I'm following Jesus or not. Don't be telling people that. I like my privacy. A lot of us, we live in this social media age7:27 where you think you're transparent because you post your your anniversary, or you post your birthday, but how many of you guys know, you all have privacies set on your phone. You all have privacies7:39 including myself set on our social media. You have it set where your profile may be private, or only certain people can comment, or maybe you've blocked people before, or muted people before. Why? Because7:51 we all want privacy. But the Apostle Paul says to follow Jesus, you are giving up that privacy. And you are inviting not only the people in church8:03 around, but the church around you and the people around you to look at you, whether you are an example for Jesus or not. The moment you step into this call and you say that you follow8:15 Jesus, you step into a responsibility to be the example. When the Apostle Paul says, imitate me, there's a Greek word that he uses called semitae, which would be8:27 the word where we get the word symmetry from. And how many of you know if something that needs to be in symmetry is not, then the whole thing will fall apart? And so if you're a contractor, you're a8:38 construction worker, if you're building a home, things need to be in symmetry. You gotta use rulers, you gotta use geometry, you gotta know where things space out and where they go. Cause if they don't, and you finish8:50 the house, guess what? 1 wind come, 1 thing come, 1 earthquake come, the whole house will fall apart. And so measurement is essential for health, for things to be able to stand on their feet. So what the9:02 Apostle Paul says is he says hey, why don't you measure your life against my life? And let's see if we have symmetry, imitation, against 1 another. Because what the Apostle Paul knows9:14 is he knows that he is following Jesus every single day. He knows he's imperfect. He knows he's fallen. He knows he's not Jesus. But what Paul also knows is every day, he strives for9:26 Jesus Christ. And he says, if you find it difficult to bear the image of Jesus, to follow the example of Jesus, then why don't you look over at me. See if you have symmetry with9:38 me. And what is he? I mean he's in prison. Their prisons back then often times were in their sewage system, so there's manure, there's urine, there's a bunch of nastiness,9:50 food is very minimal. So I mean he's going through it. And he writes a letter and says, hey, if you want to grow in maturity, measure your life against mind right now. But we live in an age10:02 where everybody wants to have influence, but no 1 wants to be an example. You know, everybody wants to be an influencer. Every, we all want followers, we all want likes, we all10:14 want comments. But don't expect me to be an example. TikTok, RIP, but then not RIP. It raced from the dead this afternoon, oddly enough. I don't know if you've got the news10:25 already, but last night TikTok was banned. This morning, or this afternoon rather, not afternoon, it's only 11, at 11 am TikTok got turned back on. Yeah, I10:37 know. I'll be your guys' Fox News and CNN News. Breaking news to you before you, because you don't have TikTok, so you didn't know that. But I went on Instagram in between service, and I10:49 found out. But for about 13 hours, some of y'all were freaking out. We, our prayer team was prepared to pray for you guys.11:02 If any of you were experiencing withdrawal for TikTok, I see people, they don't even hear me anymore right now. Like addicts, you guys are downloading TikTok, you're re signing in, you're pulling up all your friends11:13 again. I get it. Give me 20 minutes, and you you can you can scroll your life away once again. But how many of us know on TikTok, everybody on11:24 Instagram, on YouTube, everybody wants to influence. They want to influence you on what to buy. They want to influence you on what to wear. They want to influence you on what music to listen to. They want to influence11:35 you on what restaurants are good to go. But how many times have we seen it on social media? That a person may have influence, but their private life doesn't match their public life. And eventually,11:48 their private life will be uncovered. What's done in the dark will ultimately come to the light. And so, we see what happens with influencers is, they have influence in a category, they have millions of followers, but11:59 what happens? They don't treat their spouse a certain way and it gets out in public. They lose their following. Or they don't treat a waitress a certain way out in public and someone records it and we see it. Or what12:10 happens is, is they, we end up finding out that they're actually a lie or a farce, and all of a sudden, their followership declines. And what they didn't realize was, is the responsibility of influence was12:22 not actually in followers, it was actually in being an example. And the Apostle Paul starts on the opposite foot. He says hey, imitate me. Let me have influence in your life12:34 because I'm being an example. Not so that I can be an example. He's not saying let me know if you're watching me so that I can get my act together. He's saying, no, I know that I'm12:46 following Jesus, so I invite your eyes to look at me. You don't have to tell me you're looking at me when you come to church, because I'm walking in a standard, I'm imitating Jesus, I'm in12:58 symmetry with the way that Jesus would call me to act. So therefore, I don't care what any conversation anyone hears me conversating about. I don't care what happened. I don't care if you see me in public. I don't care13:08 if you see me in the gym. Because the Apostle Paul says this, because my standard of conduct is an example that you can follow. So therefore, he takes that example and he13:20 uses it for influence. And if we're gonna truly influence people for Jesus and be an example for Jesus, we have to recognize that there are some things that happen. If you're taking notes, here's the first point that13:31 Paul encourages us with in verse 17. What happens if you want to carry influence, then influence carries a cost. There's a cost to influence.13:43 It's not just a matter of being a leader, or a manager, or a CEO, or a boss, or a husband, or a father, it's what cost are you willing to carry to carry13:55 that honor? To carry that right? Verse 17 as we read, he says brothers, join me in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you14:07 have in us. In a few moments, he'll make it clear that there are people in church who are not setting an example of what it means to follow Jesus. It's powerful that he says, hey, don't focus on14:19 those people. Jesus will take care of those people. Focus on the people that are setting an example. He, in other words, Paul says, there's gonna be imperfect people that come to church.14:31 But but the Lord will handle that and church discipline will handle that, but our responsibility is if you're a believer that's looking to grow in your faith, not only imitate Paul, but he says but look for others in the14:42 church who are imitating Jesus. And he says, and get around them. The reason Paul can have influence is because he's under the influence of God.14:54 And there's a lot of people today where we want influence, but we're not under any authority or any influence. We have to be under the influence of God, under the influence of the Holy Spirit to be led. And the15:06 Apostle Paul can say these things because he is under God's influence. He's led by the Lord every single day. When I was a kid, what we played a lot was the game telephone. Do you guys remember that game telephone? You15:18 get 8 kids, 7 kids. Well, I often still play it to this day because I have children and then I have nieces and nephews. And particularly whenever I'm with my in laws, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, my15:29 sister-in-law, we'll go to a restaurant and we'll get 1 big table and it'll have all the grandchildren, all the nieces and nephews, we're all around a table. And while we're waiting for our food, we often play a game of15:40 telephone. And so what happens is, if you don't know the game, 1 person comes up with a phrase or a sentence, and then they say it to, they whisper it to the next person, and then that person whispers it to the next15:52 person, and so on and so forth. And the part of the game is, is the last person, when they repeat it, does it match what the first person said? And and here's the16:03 thing, if you're playing with my youngest son Thomas, it always ends relatively the same. It has some type of bowel movement involved at the end of the sentence. He'll talk about fart, poop,16:15 whatever. So, it'll start off like Spider man swings from the building. And then by time it gets to Thomas on the end, it'll be like Spider man poops and farts. And we'll be like,16:28 Tom like, what? Because he's young? Because he's a child? Because he's immature? Because he has not developed? Even if he hears it right, he changes it.16:41 Because that's what it is. In the same way, we often do that with our walk. Here's how it goes, how God normally, there are some exceptions, but normally here's how God will communicate to you. John chapter16:53 1 talks about that Jesus is the fulfillment of the word of God. He's he's the incarnation of the Word of God. And so therefore, as Jesus has spoken, what happens is, is that17:05 it has been recorded in Scripture by the power of the Spirit. All the writers have been Spirit led and Spirit filled in this inerrant Bible that God has spoken through mortal men. God has recorded17:17 his word, which originally started with Jesus. And so the game of telephone, it starts with Jesus. It gets recorded in the Word of God. And then what happens is, as the Word of God is open17:29 and shared, the Spirit of God will deliver it to your heart. And then from there, God will expect you to not only live17:40 that example out, but translate that or transfer that to the world around you. The question is, is I know that when Jesus recorded it in17:52 this, there was no mistake between the words. When the Spirit of God translates this to your heart, there's no differences in suggestion.18:05 The question is, what happens with you when the Word of God gets telephoned to you, and then now you're encouraged to walk that out?18:16 Does it match the original intended author's expectation of how we needed to live? How we needed to walk? How we needed to pray? How we need to be? Or by time it gets to18:28 us, does it Spider man pooped his pants? In other words, Jesus, I hear your phrase. I hear you speaking. I hear the Word18:40 of God speaking. The Word of God has reached my heart, but by time it goes to walk it out, I want to change it up a little bit. I know, I know what you said. I heard it,18:52 but I don't know. I just, I feel like I could say this a better way. I feel like I could live this a better way. I feel like I can do this a better way. A lot of times what people will say is, I'll get with people, and 119:03 of the best things that you can guide your life with, and probably the best thing is you just, as you're trying to be guided, go to the word of God. And there's times people will come to me, and they'll ask me questions.19:14 And I'll say, well let's go to the word of God. And then here's how you know that they're about to play the wrong game of telephone, is when they say this. I know that's what the Bible says, but19:26 Oh. No, no. The word of God, it's a game of telephone. Ain't no but. No buts. It said what it said. It said what it said. Well, Corinthians,19:38 do not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. Someone comes to me and says Pastor Adam, my boyfriend isn't a believer. My girlfriend isn't a believer. It's getting serious. What do you think about this? Okay, well let's19:48 turn to the Bible. And I show them in the Bible, and they go, I know it says that, but. But they bring me coffee Starbucks to work every single day,20:00 and my last boyfriend never did that. Would it? To be unequally yoked, it takes a cup of coffee? Well, shoot. I didn't know dating was so20:12 cheap nowadays. I know some Christian guys that'll buy you a latte. I mean like, that's what it, I know that's what it says, but. Now if you're already married to an unbeliever, Bible talks about totally different20:23 things. But this is in the dating process. What happens? And a lot of times, I know that's what it says, but hey me and my boyfriend, we're living together. What does the Bible say? Oh, we talk about, I know it says20:34 that, but it's hard out here to pay rent. Well there's a lot of other solutions that we can help you find before you got a result in that. I'll tell20:46 you this. Let me, can I, I just want to help someone real quick? Okay? I didn't even do this for a service, but I know the crowd, we got second service. Okay? It's hard. Second service crew, some of y'all slept in20:57 because Saturday night was long. You know what I'm saying? So that's why I know the crowd I'm talking to. When it comes to your walk with Jesus, if you are trying to look for an21:09 exception to the rule, then chances are, I'll tell you right now, you're probably not doing it right. In other words, you want, this is what happens sometimes. Someone will come to me, say is it alright me and my21:20 boyfriend are living together? I will pull up the word, and I will show them in the Bible why I encourage them that you're already partaking in the marriage bed. And then they say this, well what if we abstain from sex21:31 and we just live together? I tell them well, you must be Mother Teresa. Because for me, that would be really hard for my, you know, I'm very attracted to my wife. They're, they're, I mean, it would be very hard for21:43 me to not do that. And then they go, oh okay, well what if we just sleep in separate bedrooms? Okay? All of a sudden, we're just looking for exception after exception. What if I do this? What if I do this? What if I21:54 Rather than, you know, Jesus' expectation, he says this, when you encounter sin, he says it's better that you cut your arm off, or rip your eye off, than lose your entire body. Okay? So, a lot of22:06 times we're trying to negotiate with Jesus to say, why don't I just give you my fingernail? Right in my arm. How about a toe, rather than my leg. Well rather, expectation is to move forward. Now let me give you an22:18 exception, you say, okay, you've heard the gospel, you're living with your boyfriend or girlfriend, and you say we're getting married in 90 days. Okay, well you can fight 90 days, you can abstain to do God's work, but a22:27 lot of times it's like, we're we're gonna get married in like 7 more years, and we're gonna keep doing this, but we love Jesus. Well, are you imitating Jesus though? What? Your your your imitation game, your22:39 example will show what your walk is. A lot of times when it comes to drugs, when it comes to alcohol, we're looking for an exception. We're looking for ways out that we can still partake in something that we enjoy,22:51 while also still love Jesus. But you'll know by the power of the Spirit the word's coming to you. How do you play that game of telephone, and how do you translate that in that moment? Here's the second point that I want23:02 to share with you is what will happen is going in the same vein, is if you begin to live an example for Jesus and carry influence, what will happen is your influence will mirror God's mannerisms.23:14 You'll mirror mannerisms. The Apostle Paul was mirroring the mannerisms of Jesus, that's why he invited people to follow his example and imitate him, because he knew that he was following the example of23:26 Jesus. He says for many of you, who I often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Apostle Paul in this moment is not talking about unbelievers, he's talking23:38 about Christians who refuse to imitate Jesus. So what the Apostle Paul says is in our community, people know that you're identifying as a Christian. They know you're coming23:50 to church. They know you're following Jesus. But your mannerisms is not doing that. So therefore, you are exposing, you are an enemy of what we're trying to accomplish. As we24:01 preach Jesus, your life is preaching something else. And so he says, I don't write this in happiness, he says I write this in tears, hoping that you recognize24:13 that as we're trying to spread the gospel of Jesus, that he's here to redeem us and save us, your mannerisms communicate the complete opposite. Ephesians24:25 chapter 4 verse 1 says, it says this. Therefore, a prisoner of the Lord Jesus urge you to walk in a manner worthy to which you've been called. So walk in a manner24:36 worthy that He has called you. In other words, your mannerisms need to match your master. They have to match. That's like you24:48 bringing in someone or you ever been around a parent before and they seem to be like really respectful and really put together, and then you meet the child, and then you're like, whose kid is this?25:01 Or vice versa, the parent is like really bad, and really disobedient and really wild and then you meet the child and the child's actually like really good, right? Like straight a student, like whose child is25:13 this? In the same way, we expect when when children are with their parents that there's a mirror of mannerisms, good or bad. Me and Ashley, we debate all the time whenever our boys do something25:25 bad, who they get it from. We'll be like in the house and Mathias will be like, Thomas be quiet. And I'll look at her and I'll be like, that is all you. And she'll be like25:37 no that's not all you. And then like good parents what we do is we say this, we come to a consensus and we say, oh they learned it at school. That's where they got it from. What we do, we recognize25:49 that our children will mirror our mannerisms. My my dad had a saying growing up when I was a kid and I was a teenager and stuff like that, he would say you can do whatever you see dad do.26:02 So he would tell us like, if you see me cuss, you can cuss. If you see me drink, you can drink. If you see me treat someone poorly, you could treat people poorly. If you see me yell at someone in public, you can yell at26:13 someone in public. And he said, but but you cannot do anything that you don't see me do. And he would go, I'm not even worried about your mom. He would tell us that. My mom's great. She's an angel, but my but my26:25 but you know, my mom got some sass on her. And so, and so he would say, not even your mom, I'm talking about dad. You can do what you see dad do. That's a hard, like as we think26:37 about that, I want you to put that in your shoes right now. Like go home and tell your kids you can only do what you see mom and dad do. You're gonna see your kids fly out that window, and take the26:49 first taxi to Yard House and just start partying. You know, like, you just like, think about that. If you gave your children permission to do everything that you currently do right now, what would that happen? What27:01 would happen? Would that be an example of like, oh, we're proud that they're doing it or would it be like, you could do everything you see us do except blank blank blank blank and blank. Everything else is fair game.27:12 You can go to church like we go to church, you know, like, but don't talk like us, don't do this, don't do that. And so there's an expectation that we have to mirror God's mannerisms. The second thing we need, or or or27:24 the third thing we need to do is influence will begin to fix your focus. As we begin to mirror Jesus's mannerisms, what will happen is your focus will begin to be27:36 fixed. See the Apostle Paul says this, their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.27:48 Their minds are set on in other words, their attention and their focus is set on earthly things. So therefore, they're an enemy of the cross because their focus is not on28:00 Jesus, their focus is not on walking this thing out, their focus is on their mindset being on earthly things. There's a famous painting that all of us would know it, it's probably28:11 the most famous painting in all of the world. It's Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. There's probably almost no 1 in the room who would say they didn't know what this was. We all know what this is. This depicts28:24 Jesus's last moment with his disciples before he goes praise in the Garden of Gethsemane. Leonardo da Vinci painted this in the 16 hundreds in a chapel, a Dominican priest28:36 chapel in Milan. And so he painted this gorgeous mural that's on a wall in the chapel. Most of us have seen this picture regenerated, you know, we've28:48 seen it digitally enhanced, we've seen it redrawn, and so most of the time you'll see the painting as a completed painting, but the way it stands today, if you were to get on a flight right now and you were to go to28:59 Milan, and you were to go to this chapel, what would happen is, is you would look at Leonardo Da Vinci's painting, and you would see that there's something missing. And so, I want you to see for just a moment if we29:11 could show it again. You'll notice that there's something unique in the original. How it is right now. Is at the base of Jesus' feet, there's a doorway. When that painting was done,29:24 it was a blank wall. There was no doorway there. And so, when Leonardo Da Vinci did the painting, he did not have to work around a wall. The story is is some years29:35 later, there's Dominican monks that live in that church, and on the other side of that wall is their dining hall. And normally their walk to the dining hall29:47 from where they would work was about 50 yards away. And what they found out 1 day is they said hey, if we blow a wall at Jesus's feet, we could get to dinner faster.30:01 And so what they did, was they took the world- they don't know it at the time. They took the world's most famous, most recognized painting in the world, and they cut Jesus's feet off.30:13 And they made it so that they can walk right through it so that they can get to dinner faster. And a lot of times in our own life, we allow our appetite to30:25 dictate our direction. And we'll blow right past Jesus. We'll blow a hole, a whole wall, a hole through the life of Jesus so that we can get to where we want to30:37 go. It's admirable, it's beautiful to look at, it's gorgeous. Oh but wait, it's time for dinner. Hey, can someone make a wall right here? So that we can get to dinner faster? See the30:48 apostle Paul says, their appetite, their belly is their God. And they have their mind set on earthly things. He's saying they they love Jesus. They come to Jesus. They admire31:00 Jesus, but when their stomach starts growling, they don't go to Jesus. They go to the dining hall. And he says that is their God. Is that when hunger strikes,31:12 they don't go to the cross. They don't go to Jesus. They go to their own thing. They go to their bong. They go to their drinks. They go to their friends. They go to the club.31:24 They go to a relationship. When the hunger comes, their appetite, it's on food. It's on their belly. It's on other things. 1 of the things I noticed that I've been on this fast is and I know Ashley, we31:36 talked about it first service. You know, this is a big moment for her because I've never admitted this, and so I made her promise first service that when we get home we don't talk about it. Okay? So, because I gotta31:47 admit something before you guys right now, but historically I'd always say I'm not a thirsty person. I don't Ashley would always be like you didn't drink water today, and I'm like well because I don't get thirsty. I'm I31:57 never I'm never thirsty for water. And so for the past 21 days during this fast, we went more of an extreme fast even too and we removed like all sugar, all carbs, all stuff like that. So, we're32:09 not even eating fruit or anything like that. So no strawberries, no pineapple, because how many of you guys know when you're doing the Daniel fast, when you want to feel a little naughty, you just get some frozen grapes32:17 or some pineapple or something like that and you're like, oh it tastes like candy. So we're like, we're even gonna remove that. We're gonna go a little harder on this fast. What I noticed was the moment I removed the32:28 sweets and the moment I removed the carbs, I started getting really thirsty. Like I was actually, I'm right now able to tell that I'm thirsty. And for the past 2 weeks, I can't32:40 go like 30 minutes without drinking like 12 ounces of water. Now mind you, I don't ever drink, man, I can go a week without drinking 12 ounces of water. Right now, I can't go 30 minutes, 45 minutes.32:52 It wasn't because I was never thirsty, it's because I was full of a lot of other things that I was never able to tell that I was actually thirsty. And I'm recognizing a33:04 lot of things that carry water the moment I remove it. I'm like oh, I'm actually really thirsty. And so, a lot of times for our own walk, our own life, you know I got right here our normal diet. Be like33:15 man, I got breakfast burrito. Like a normal diet for us. Wake up in the morning like, oh I'm on my way to work. I'm gonna stop at Farmer Boys. I'm gonna get me a breakfast burrito, And then you know, I've been really33:27 good lately, so then I'm gonna get me 1 of these cheeseburgers with fries. And I'm gonna eat this at lunch. And then, you know, sometime around 5 or 6 o'clock, I'm gonna, my little sweet tooth is gonna be calling. And33:39 so, I'm gonna need me some chocolate cake. And then when you eat all of this, someone felt that right now. They're like give me that. They're like if it's the last service, can I have33:50 that? Now if you ate all this and I came to you and I said, hey I I got I got a nice piece of fish that I just caught out in the ocean, or I mean I have a really nice34:02 healthy piece of steak. You'd go like this, you'd go like, oh I'm full. But how many of you go just because you're full doesn't mean it was nutritious. 2 totally different things. And what the Apostle34:14 Paul is speaking to is he's saying this, he's saying a lot of you are full. Your appetite is full. Your God is your belly. You're eating a lot of food and and you're you're injecting a lot of the world, but at the end of34:25 the day, it's not nutritious. And so, if you want to be in a nutritious life, then that's a life that follows the example of Jesus. That's what he says. And he writes it with34:37 tears to say it breaks his heart when he sees people living this life. And a lot of times, your appetite may not be your food, but you know that when your appetite may not be your food, but you know that when your34:47 stomach rumbles there are a lot of things you turn to before you turn to Jesus. When you're when you're angry and that starts rumbling, what do you do? You you you man, words start coming out, phrases start34:59 coming out, things start coming out. You go in the garage, or you go out somewhere else, and you just, man I gotta get out rather than going to Jesus, or your habits start itching. 1 of the biggest things was in35:11 Paul's day, as we begin to close. In Paul's day, what would happen is is the Romans would and the Greeks would hold these huge parties of food. It was tremendous. And they were famous because what they would do,35:23 let's just say they were in a rectangle home, they would put pottery in each corner. And what the pottery in each corner represented is they were they were vomit bins. So that as everybody was35:35 partying, if they wanted to continue because how many you know, when like we had too much to drink, you've had too much to eat, you just kind of go like, oh I'm gonna just go sit, or I'm gonna head home. I don't my35:44 stomach. So they had these bins that you could go and vomit into, so that you could go back to the party. And you could go back and enjoy the party. So you can empty your stomach, and you can get back in the game. And35:56 they had these all over. So the Apostle Paul, he's saying your God is your belly. Like you're just pursuing this, and you think to yourself, that's so weird. That's so odd. We don't do that today. Really? You ever been36:07 to a Super Bowl party and someone starts drinking and eating too much, and they just go in the bathroom? And they just go throw up and they come back and they go, oh I'm good. All I needed to do was vomit, and I'm36:16 straight. We we still do that stuff all the time. Someone goes to a wedding and you celebrate too much, and you just, oh I just gotta go vomit, or I just gotta go to the bathroom. You come back, and you say let let's36:27 keep it rolling. Or all of a sudden you start getting anxious, or you start getting angry. So you're like man, I just I need to go in the back. I just got to smoke real quick. I'll come back. I'll be myself again.36:37 There's this appetite that God has made that He can fill, but what we do is we just keep ingesting it, and then we vomit it. And then we ingest it, and then we vomit it. Then we ingest it, and36:49 so the Apostle Paul says if you're truly looking to be fulfilled, you can only be fulfilled by Jesus.37:02 Things of God. And and if you're here today, and you've been struggling with your appetite, You've been saying, Lord before I go to the altar call, I just want to pray for you. If you're in here and you're37:14 saying, you know what? I have had appetite for other things. It may be on actual food, and you say, you know what? I want to change my appetite, my diet, but your appetite could be other things. You may have your mind37:25 set on earthly things. You may have been consuming yourself with earthly desires. I just want to pray for you just a moment. If we bow our heads right now, before I go to an altar call, if you're just looking and you're37:37 just saying, God by your power, I want to change my appetite. I'm ready to be full of you. I I don't want to be full of the earthly things anymore. I truly want you. I just want you to raise your hand, because I'm gonna37:48 pray for you. You just raise your hand, and you're saying I want my appetite to match what I see in the word of God. I don't want an appetite for the worldly things anymore. Let me pray for you. God right now38:00 Father, I just pray for every person hand that's raised Lord. I pray you begin to by your power, by your strength, God, speak to their heart right now, Father God. Give them the strength, Lord, to put to38:12 death all of the misdeeds of the body, Father God, today, Lord. Give them the strength to fully trust in you, Lord. I pray we no longer be enemies of Jesus, that we on the outside say that we're believers, but on the38:23 inside, we're truly not following Jesus in a according way that you've called us, Father God. May our example match our profession today, Father God, Lord. I pray you give everyone radical strength to fully38:35 follow and obey your example, Jesus God. May you transform their thinking, may you transform their mind, God. May you heal them in every which way, Lord. May you anoint their hands and their feet, God. I pray that38:47 as they leave this place, Lord, and they may set their eyes on the things that distract them, as they set their eyes on the things that pull them, Lord. May you remind them and convict them, Lord, that you're doingShow more In this video 0:00 The Call to Imitate Christ
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